As students return to campus after Christmas break, many experience the following:

Satisfaction and/or disappointment with last semester’s grades

Homesickness after Christmas break

Realizing that Jan Term classes are more challenging than they first realized

Feelings of exhaustion

Difficulty finding motivation in the darker winter light

Tip: January is a great month for a handwritten letter from home, or for a care package, “just because.”

Adapted from Helping your First-Year College Student Succeed, Richard Mullendore and Cathie Hatch, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina, Columbia.